Leon Golub

“Everyone knows artists don’t change society, but that’s too easy a way to put it. Artists are part of the information process. If artists only make cubes, then what the world knows of art will be cubes. If there are artists who are doing other subject matters, including interrogations, these start to enter into differential dialogues regarding the nature of art and circumstance. It may not change the world, but the contexts and operations of art shift. Art becomes part of the context of experience in unexpected ways. If Jacques Louis David had not existed, our notions of what was possible in that period of time would be much different. Visual history is important in providing a record of what is going on- levels of intention, levels of confidence, and levels of aggression or control. New subject matters start to break down some of the barriers of that protected enclave, the art world as we’ve known it”.